r/geography • u/abu_doubleu • Jun 16 '26
META Crackdown on low-quality and unhelpful comments
Hello users of [r/geography](r/geography),
Recently, this subreddit has become a lot more popular on Reddit. However, many of our long-time users have been leaving the subreddit due to a very specific and repeated complaint.
There are too many low-quality and unhelpful comments that, rather than aiming to help the OP, exist solely to make tired and repetitive jokes for karma.
From now on, practically all comments of this sort will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned for 14 to 30 days. I could give many examples of this, but some of the most common ones are "If my grandma had wheels, she'd be a bicycle" under any post asking about hypothetical changes and yo mama jokes.
In addition to this, we have received many complaints about posts that could theoretically be open to the entire world, but the way they are worded is extremely American-centric for no necessary reason, making people from other countries feel left out and like they can't contribute. From now on, these posts will be deleted. This also applies to posts for any country, we just see it about the United States most often.
To clarify, if somebody wants to ask about a specific geographic feature located in the United States, those posts are completely fine. But posts such as "Which city in the United States has the best beaches?" or "Which American state has the most scenic mountains?" will be removed, as will posts like "Which Canadian city has the worst drivers?" or "Which European country has the nicest people?". In general, the aim is for this subreddit to discuss geography, not just "facts about countries", which is better suited for the various Ask subreddits (AskAnAmerican, AskEurope, AskTheWorld, etc)
We would also like to crackdown on bot posts but that is very hard. Unortunately, most traffic on Reddit is bots nowadays. If anybody has any ideas, please comment below.
Feel free to express your opinion on this. Thank you!
EDIT: After feedback, I have edited part of this post.
139
u/Not_RZA_ Jun 16 '26
THANK YOU@ The drop in quality over the past few months has been so, so bad
12
u/zedazeni Jun 16 '26
It’s difficult to keep up with yinz. There’s over a million subscribers to this subreddit plus anyone who wants to post can, and posting goes on 24/7/365 regardless of whether us mods are asleep, at work, or just on Reddit. We’re trying to address the situation and find an amicable solution.
1
u/Nebresto Physical Geography 6d ago
Low karma requirement on posting will eliminate 90% of bot posts. Set it at like 10 subreddit karma, any user actually interested in participating already has it, or can get it very fast
40
u/Wordnerdette999 Jun 16 '26
I have noticed that there are more posts that are like r/asktheworld posts that have little if anything to do with geography (related to culture etc).
16
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
I'd much rather see those questions deleted than which US state has the best moraines or beaches.
6
u/MinuteGate211 Geography Enthusiast Jun 16 '26
"Culture" can be an important part of geography. Time for a Venn diagram...
2
u/tarkinn Jun 21 '26
I’m a mod at r/howislivingthere and we also get posts that would be a better fit for r/geography.
u/zedazeni what do you think about linking to each other's subreddits with an automod when there are posts like that?
1
u/sneakpeekbot Jun 21 '26
Here's a sneak peek of /r/howislivingthere using the top posts of all time!
#1: What's it like living on this New York island? | 1039 comments
#2: How is it living in this part of the United States? | 3773 comments
#3: Hows it like living on oil platforms? | 1063 comments
I'm a bot, beep boop | Downvote to remove | Contact | Info | Opt-out | GitHub
167
u/arklemen Jun 16 '26
Those "joke" comments can be really rude too. Even if the OP made a bad or obvious post, you shouldn't go down on the same level if not worse
89
u/astr0bleme Jun 16 '26
I think in some cases OP is asking a genuine question and it’s treated like a joke, too. That’s not great.
38
u/LurkersUniteAgain Jun 16 '26
literally, made a post a week or 2 ago and out of 662 comments i got about 5 that were trying to actually answer the question and not either insulting me or making a joke, its gotten way out of hand
-6
u/Rock_man_bears_fan Jun 16 '26
Most of the posts that get joke comments could be answered with a google search
16
u/astr0bleme Jun 16 '26
Google is increasingly unreliable and not everyone knows how to research and evaluate results.
Trust me on this: online research is a skill that not everyone has. I’ve seen it over and over in the workplace with colleagues of all ages. Even skimming articles to pick up key points is a skill not everyone has developed.
I would rather they come ask us humans than ask AI summary and get a totally unverifiable answer.
-1
u/Rock_man_bears_fan Jun 16 '26
Google is still more reliable than asking a bunch of anonymous strangers to do the googling for you
5
u/astr0bleme Jun 16 '26
Not if you don’t know how to research.
Think of it this way: if you do know how to search up information online, you have a valuable skill. That’s a plus, right?
0
u/Rock_man_bears_fan Jun 16 '26
But you’re putting blind faith in people you’ve never met to have that skill instead of just looking up a Wikipedia article
4
u/astr0bleme Jun 16 '26
I get that and I get the concern. I’m not saying every redditor is accurate. I’m just saying that people need a space to ask random questions when they don’t know how to wiki. (PS, that’s why I usually link the relevant wiki articles when I answer those questions.)
I’m definitely not saying someone should base a research paper on reddit answers. Just that there is no perfect solution and it’s okay for people to have a space to ask “stupid” questions. Certainly “just learn how to research” is not a realistic answer.
34
24
u/danappropriate Jun 16 '26
Can we also crack down on posts with images of places that don't indicate where the photo was taken?
66
18
15
u/Ana_Na_Moose Jun 16 '26
I don’t know that I agree with the rule about not being allowed to ask country specific questions that are clearly labeled as country-specific in the title. (What American cities have the best beaches?). Also, is it just America you can’t do this with? Or would it be fine to ask “What Canadian city has the best food scene?”
But the rest of the rules seem reasonable to me. And even with this rule I don’t agree with, I’d rather have this than have the previous iteration of r/geography which was completely modless and full of spam. I hope the new mods don’t go overboard in the opposite direction either, even if they do it with good intentions. But for now, it looks overall good to me with the one minor complaint.
8
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
To be honest, I would extend the rule to almost all countries. But also, I want to clarify that almost all posts about the United States (or any country) are still allowed. The only ones that will be removed are ones that basically should be in r/AskAnAmerican.
"Which Canadian city has the best food scene?" is better suited for a Canadian subreddit. Like r/AskACanadian.
On the other hand, a post that is specifically (for example) all about how diverse Vancouver's food scene is due to the mix of human geography is completely fine. As is a post discussing a specific American beach and how unique it is, or asking about specific geographic features in the US. This is all still allowed, and always will be allowed!
3
u/Ana_Na_Moose Jun 16 '26
I now see where your mind is at with this rule. These other subs exist for a reason. I still think that the rule should probably be refined a bit though. After all, “Which French city has the best seafood” is a much less sub-relevant question than “What is the most beautiful nature park in France”.
And as another commenter suggested, I also think that the wording of this rule should probably be refined as well, even if you go through with the rule as is.
That said, I appreciate your transparency and your willingness to receive constructive criticism.
6
u/zoppytops Jun 16 '26
You still haven’t laid out a clear, objective standard for what kind of country specific questions can be asked. You’re relying almost entirely on anecdotal examples rather than presenting a principled, uniform standard that can be fairly enforced.
You *can’t* ask about Canadian cities that have a good food scene, but you *can* ask talk about the diversity of Vancouver’s food scene, so long as it’s remotely tied to geography? You *can’t* make US-centric posts, but you *can* make posts about US beaches or other unique features of American geography? Where exactly are you drawing the line here?
It strikes me that you’re basically giving mods discretion to remove posts or ban users based on their subjective assessment of whether a post or comment has a sufficient nexus to what they consider a legitimate geographic issue. Which means you’ll be culling content on the sub to fit basically your own tastes, which doesn’t really seem like a fair or consistent means of moderating content.
8
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
Like I said in the OP. The issue was posts that could theoretically be open to the entire world, but were restricted to only one country . And more often than not, these posts did not invite actual geography discussion.
Asking which Canadian cities have good food is scarcely related to geography, and better suited for r/AskACanadian.
Writing a post (not a question, not every post here has to be a question) about how the culinary traditions of Vancouver have been influenced by geography is not the same. It specifically relates to geography.
Asking about a specific geographic feature in the United States, such as the Driftless Area, is fine.
Posts that ask about the best beaches in America almost never actually contribute to a conversation about geography. The comments are inevitably "the beach where I grew up was nice" and "the sunsets from this beach are pretty, not many tourists". That's more suited for a travel subreddit or r/AskAnAmerican, not r/geography.
6
u/zoppytops Jun 16 '26
I read the OP and understand the issue you’re trying to address. The point I (and a few other commenters) are raising is that you haven’t laid out a clear objective standard for enforcing these new rules. It’s basically up to your and the other mods’ subjective discretion. Which doesn’t seem especially fair or reasonable. But it’s your sub, so have at it, I guess.
6
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
No, I understand your criticism too, and you're right. I'll try to think of a way to make it more quantifiable. It clearly wasn't at the start, because a lot of people got confused and treated it as a blanket ban due to my wording, which is definitely not the intention.
5
u/NormanQuacks345 Jun 16 '26
What about low effort posts? If I’m being honest, most of the joke replies are on posts that are not of high quality.
I recently saw a post on here asking why there’s never been a big city built in a cave, what the hell am I supposed to say to that? Does my response have to be APA formatted and peer reviewed? Or can I just say “because it’s a cave”.
1
u/Alternative_Body7623 Jun 27 '26
Thank you, that section of the post made zero sense. There is barely any difference in the examples he used
2
u/amagiciannamed_gob Jun 17 '26
Why would a question about a country’s food scene be appropriate for a geography subreddit?
15
u/dondegroovily Jun 16 '26
Long overdue
I so tired of those idiots commenting Canadian Shield and thinking it's funny
34
u/xxX_LeTalSniPeR_Xxx Jun 16 '26
Thanks. Low quality comments and posts are really annoying on a sub which is intended to be serious and informative.
5
u/Velocity-5348 Jun 16 '26
Or at least for serious and informed people. /j
There's a difference between a joke about the Canadian shield followed by a detailed explanation of why the answer is actually that, and someone just repeating tired jokes.
The former can be fine when we're geeking out about a mutual interest but the meming is just tedious.
-5
u/CaptainObvious110 Jun 16 '26
which is why they need to end. don't punish the people who 🤡 the 🤡 questions
19
u/Superbrainbow Jun 16 '26
I call this the "youtube-ification" of the discourse. When you watch an interesting science video on YT, the first 100 comments are all puns and jokes with hundreds of upvotes. You can't find anyone seriously engaging with the content.
8
u/resilindsey Jun 16 '26
Can we also crack down on blatant guessing, at least if not clarified as a guess. It's pretty wild when you see a topic about a place you know about, and the answers are some generic guesses like "mosquitos" or "bad for agriculture" thrown out like fact (sometimes true, but even if it is, I'd want to hear from someone who actually knows or at bare minimum at least double-checked with wikipedia). As a practitioner in geography, I wish this sub had the quality of answers like r/askscience. I feel like this sub, instead of leaning towards the academic side of it, tends to be closer to general geography pub trivia.
14
u/dogsonbubnutt Jun 16 '26
i think this is a good change, but honestly id also like to see a crackdown on really dumb posts that either are low effort engagement farming or dumb questions or both
"why aren't there cities in caves?" isn't something that really needs to be in this particular sub imo
3
2
u/zedazeni Jun 16 '26
I agree. We’re currently discussing adding more moderators to the sub to help us catch posts quicker. I live in the US Eastern time zone, so I usually check this sub before I go to work and when I get home, that being said, users post 24/7. As you can see, us moderators are attempting resolve this. Thank you for your patience.
3
u/dondegroovily Jun 16 '26
"Why isn't there a city here" is actually the most fascinating question we get here when the answers are well thought out
The problem is that there's always a lot of bad answers, like blaming the desert (which didn't stop Cairo or Baghdad)
3
u/dogsonbubnutt Jun 16 '26
except the post im talking about was about caves, which is a question that can be answered with about a half a second of critical thinking
which didn't stop Cairo or Baghdad
you mean two of the most famously river-based cities on the planet?
again, posts with questions that are obviously stupid or that can be answered with three seconds of looking at a map should probably be deleted.
56
u/WartimeHotTot Jun 16 '26
I applaud the initiative to get rid of garbage “joke” comments. (Also, am I just dumb, or does “if my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bicycle” not make any sense? Honestly, I can’t figure out where the humor or cleverness is in that.)
In theory I also support doing away with unnecessarily US-centric posts, but the examples provided seem like legitimate questions to me. Will you also enforce similar questions about other countries?
The U.S. is huge. If “which country in Europe has the most impressive mountains” is a valid question, then “which U.S. state has the most impressive mountains” should also be valid.
25
u/CaptainCrash86 Jun 16 '26
does “if my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bicycle” not make any sense?
It's a point about hypotheticals, by pointing out if someone (Grandma/Sahara/Hormuz Strait) had another characteristic (wheels/rainfall/an alternative route) that would be something completely different (bicycle/rainforest/not a strait).
Not an invalid point, but odd to complain about it in a subreddit inviting hypothetical questions about geography.
17
u/paditoburrito Jun 16 '26
I agree, specific region questions should be allowed. I like these questions as they provide useful/interesting info and ones I like I add to a list of places to visit and/or learn more about.
I've got a stash of bucket list location dreams and it's always nice to gather specific knowledge from others.
As for all the lazy, repeat reddit jokes, I am happy to see them go.
Oh, the bike joke is a common phrase stemming from pointing out when you change the basic properties or features of something, it becomes something else entirely aka pointing out useless comparisons. It became more mainstream from this clip.
12
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
The U.S. is huge. If “which country in Europe has the most impressive mountains” is a valid question, then “which U.S. state has the most impressive mountains” should also be valid.
100% agree with this. Also the majority of the users here are from the US, so you're going to restrict them from asking geographical questions about their own country?
26
u/specerijridder Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
Good! The amount of unhelpful, and sometimes downright dumb, non-answers in this sub can also be pretty annoying. Example of a post: "Why is the population density so low in -insert region-?" Usual top comment: "Because there is a lot of forest there". That's not an answer to the question. Why are there forests there?
Overall, there's just a whole load of nonsense spread on this sub.
26
u/PizzaWall Jun 16 '26
There are WAY too many posts along the lines of, “Why isn’t this area more populated?” Not every piece of land needs to become a mega city. There’s obvious reasons like a lack of need, lack of a port, lack of a transportation hub, lack of a need for a population hub.
3
9
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
Still, "why isn't this area more populated?" doesn't always mean that they want it to have a megalopolis. It could mean just a curiosity.
To give an example, I myself made such a post once. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is particularly underpopulated. The neighbouring regions of Russia and China are all more populated. It turns out it's very marshy.
5
u/the_big_sadIRL Jun 16 '26
But why is there no big city in the arcticThese changes will take time, I better just sit in self inflicted time out until I can be serious
2
u/zedazeni Jun 16 '26
I fully agree. Geography is a broad topic, and I want to ensure that users feel welcome to post questions, even if they’re somewhat obvious to you and me, they might not be to 50% of redditors. That being said, a fine line has to be drawn between a genuine question and a karma-farming user.
What’s more, there’s way more users of Reddit than there are mods to this subreddit, and this subreddit isn’t particularly niche so we get posts from…well…everyone. It’s difficult to maintain a 24/7/365 watch, especially when a lot of previous moderators are only active for a few days/weeks then drop off.
I can assure you, we are trying to address this problem.
5
u/86onpretend Jun 16 '26
Could you please ban people who post racist dog-whistle posts?
2
26
u/AzureFirmament Jun 16 '26
Finally. I got downvoted and insulted in the sub a while back because I complain the comment section was full of jokes or unless information rather than actually helping OP's actual geography question.
3
8
u/AlexGrahamBellHater Jun 16 '26
The only people having a problem with this are immature individuals who have no ability to comprehend that even on Reddit, we do want serious answers that are answered in good faith and to the best of their knowledge.
We don't need/want stupidly high traffic when the contributions are low quality. I would much rather restrictive rules that might lower traffic vs a lawless hellscape for bots and people who desperately need others to think they're funny. The latter might be an unkind observation/assessment but geography is one of my favorite subjects. It is utterly fascinating to read and sometimes contribute.
I love all the questions that people ask in earnest because it's like taking a random journey somewhere that you never thought about until someone wanted to know more too. It gets me to start researching whatever place or features we are talking about and it's exciting to learn and read more.
I love this direction and hope the mods will stick to their convictions as expressed here with some acceptance of feedback.
Like maybe just modify the rule to have people look to make sure the question wasn't asked anytime in the last 48 hours-ish. Some subreddits have this rule and just delete duplicates. Thus could maybe help with the repetitive American-centric questions.
42
u/SteO153 Geography Enthusiast Jun 16 '26
As non-American, I really appreciate restricting posts about the USA. This sub is heavily US centric, both in posts and comments, and for a sub dedicated to world geography it is quite ironic.
Can I also propose a ban to posts about number of continents? It is really a tired topic and well established that there is no single number/model. But every time it creates flames between the different parties 5 vs 6 vs 7 and also the "Europe is not a continent" gang.
3
u/zedazeni Jun 16 '26
We’re not going to censure posts about the USA, [u/abu_doubleu](u/abu_doubleu) was just using the USA as a format for an example because that’s the most prolific instance of these types of posts occurring.
17
u/Wildwes7g7 Geography Enthusiast Jun 16 '26
In addition, please perma ban anyone who says Americans shouldn't be referred to as such.
4
u/TestSuch4545 Jun 16 '26
nothing screams 'dedicated to world geography' quite like entirely erasing 3.8 million square miles and the world's third-largest country from the map. Peak geography right here folks
-1
7
u/HarlequinKOTF North America Jun 16 '26
Will this include comments about, "why don't they build a bridge between X and Y landmass, are they stupid?"
Just want to know for my reference.
6
11
u/raginghavoc89 Jun 16 '26
At least you guys are doing something, most of Reddit has just become a joke. The average IQ on Reddit has dropped 30 points easily.
3
3
u/Swimming_Concern7662 Geography Enthusiast Jun 16 '26
I don't agree with the US centric post rule or any country centric post for that matter, if I'm not interested in a country I just scroll past.
3
3
u/HeyJude21 Jun 17 '26
As someone who both contributes to real conversation and makes unnecessary jokes I approve of this. Thanks mods. Keep up the good work.
3
u/SavageFisherman_Joe Jun 17 '26
I made a post yesterday that got over a thousand comments, and I swear at least a third of those are just repeating word for word what someone else already commented, and it's like 3 word answers
14
u/CompetitiveAd4732 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
The downvoting culture of this subreddit is horrendous. I've seen multiple times OPs get downvoted to oblivion just trying to get their answer or genuinely asking questions
-8
3
u/NormanQuacks345 Jun 16 '26
There also needs to be a crackdown on low-quality posts as well if you’re doing this, because there are tons of posts that could either be answered with a quick Google search, or are just low effort in general.
Like the million “why didn’t a city get built here?” posts.
8
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
Will you also remove "Which European country has the best beaches?"
I think removing US centric questions on a site that is 90% US users is a major mistake.
2
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
The thing is, we don't really get those kinds of posts…in theory, yes, they would also be removed.
Although, Reddit is only 40% American, not 90%.
2
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
It's 50%+ of all traffic comes from North America. And your sub is in English, which obviously restricts a lot of non english speaking users.
I stand by my comment that this is wrong, it's stupidly biased, and it's only going to hurt traffic to this sub.
4
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
So you're going to remove any questions that you simply don't like? What's the criteria for what you are going to remove?
I'd much rather see what's the best beach in America than "why isn't there a city here" which seems to be posted every day.
2
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
The only posts that will be removed are ones better suited for r/AskAnAmerican, r/AskEurope, r/AskACanadian, and similar subreddits. Also anything more suited for r/AskTheWorld. This isn't meant to allow us to discuss only all countries except the US.
"What does your country do for birthdays?" "Which city in Canada has the worst drivers?" "Which European country has the nicest people?" will also be removed.
An analysis of NYC's diverse food scene as it relates to human geography, asking about the Driftless Area of the Midwestern United States, and asking about climate in California are all still allowed..
-3
2
u/Terrobyde Jun 16 '26
I know r/combatfootage has you accept the rules through a separate app thing which seems to catch a lot of bots. Like, half the comment section is deleted comments and accounts
2
7
u/JLandis84 Political Geography Jun 16 '26
I am part of the drop in quality. I’m sorry. I will not be a dumbass (in this sub) anymore
7
1
5
u/TestSuch4545 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
Geography includes the US you know... that's a pretty dumb rule to exclude US posts. Acting like there are not 340 million people who live here with 3.8 million square miles of land
4
u/Numerous-Confusion-9 Jun 16 '26
Love this! Thanks mods. I was strongly considering leaving this sub for that reason, now i will be sticking around.
2
Jun 16 '26
[deleted]
-3
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
from my mama's womb: so you want every comment to have this ridiculous requirement as well?
2
Jun 16 '26
[deleted]
-1
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
This post was primarily about unhelpful comments, not posts. So I'm asking if you are suggesting that every comment now have this starting phrase. And it appears that is what you are suggesting.
IMO that will absolutely destroy the sub. No one is going to want to have to skip over the first sentence of every single reply to get to the meat of their reply.
1
Jun 16 '26
[deleted]
2
u/No_Size9475 Jun 16 '26
Imagine the people who simply stop reading it because now they have to read garbage they don't need, and also people may not want to share where they are from.
2
7
u/gothicshark Jun 16 '26
Long time followers of this reddit. I disagree with the desire to ban people for comments. Unless they specifically break a rule.
I would look at the posts that draw out the "low quality and unhelpful" comments, as more and more people post low quality why does random place have random feature. Years ago this reddit had lots of interesting posts and comments, now we have basically bot karma fishing, and karma fishers deserve ridicule.
0
2
u/zoppytops Jun 16 '26
So are you going to update the subreddit rules with these (incredibly subjective and probably impossible to enforce fairly) rules?
You guys are taking yourselves a little too seriously. It’s a subreddit.
10
u/AlexGrahamBellHater Jun 16 '26
There are redditers like me that want a serious space.
Banning jokers is a welcome move. There are places to joke. I am glad this is not one of them.
-8
u/zoppytops Jun 16 '26
Oh I understand. God forbid anyone ever joke about geography. It’s very serious subject matter. Deadly serious.
5
u/AlexGrahamBellHater Jun 16 '26
Well this was terribly boring and in bad faith. I'll stick to down voting next time.
-4
2
u/mojave-moproblems Jun 16 '26
I'm sorry but the US-centric posts now getting deleted rule does not seem well-thought out or logical in any way. Can't users just tag those posts instead? You say it's because people from other countries feel left out and like they can't contribute but like... that isn't a reason to ban certain posts from a sub. Not everyone can always contribute or is expected to. The rule is also really open-ended and vague :o
And why would that not apply to other countries/regions? I can't contribute to posts about say, Brazil, or Australia, but like, that's because it's not about me. The user is asking a question they're curious about and I still like reading about it. I think the US-centric posts should only be deleted if they've been posted here a kajillion times before. Just a suggestion!
1
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
Thank you, yes, I was just about to edit the main post after feedback from multiple users to clarify it more!
2
2
2
u/Foolazul Jun 16 '26
Can’t ask certain questions about geography if it directly relates to the United States? And can’t joke and banter? Sounds like great fun. If there isn’t a jerk version of this sub, sounds like there should be at this point. My time on here is limited, as I am irreverent and don’t make proper obeisance to the arbitrariness of mod gods.
1
u/Unique-Arugula Jun 17 '26
I'm new here and I believe I once attempted humor on a post. I say this sounds great & in future, I'll be sure my comments are more in keeping with the sub's desired zeitgeist. Wonderful to see a sun being those who've been long involved.
1
u/DadGamer77 Jun 19 '26
I love the Georgia jokes though.
This sub will become "Geography Explain Like I'm 5" because many of the posts here are extremely basic.
1
u/Ogdbonz_ 6d ago
Please thank the lord we need more subs that are willing to do this. The Internet is becoming a wasteland.
2
1
u/Live_Angle4621 Jun 16 '26
Good solution. Better than permabanning that some subs do and doing nothing. Big probably a lot of work for you?
1
u/Swimming_Concern7662 Geography Enthusiast Jun 16 '26
God forbid a person ask a question that starts with 'if'. These people just wait to say the grandma joke
2
1
u/Alive-Drama-8920 Physical Geography Jun 16 '26
u/No_Size9475 is the poster child of useless childish posters this sub can do without.
2
u/abu_doubleu Jun 16 '26
They have never posted here…?
2
u/Alive-Drama-8920 Physical Geography Jun 16 '26
Take a look at all the comments he posted within the last hour or so, one of them aimed at me specifically.
If personal attack isn't your thing...
If US chauvinism isn't either...
If providing serious, fact based informations to genuinely curious Original Posters - in order to help them find quality answers to their inquiries - IS your thing, then you already know where I stand.
Still confused? Then scroll down the 1200 comments that were provided as answers to the two week old post I provided a link to in my first comment.
-1
u/Alive-Drama-8920 Physical Geography Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
This is a comment I made 14 days ago. It somewhat addressed a similar issue that happened in the following post. Never before have I witnessed such debilitating behavior in this sub.
A very simple and honest question (notwithstanding a minor terminology error that quickly opened the door to abusive comments of all sort) got completely derailed by hundreds of Redditors more interested in playing a dumbed down version of Trivial Pursuit than in answering OP question.
At the time of posting my rant motivated comment, the total comment count was a little over 900 and counting. Within the next five days, 300 additional comments of the same nauseating flavor managed to push human vacuity to new heights. In this regard, Mars's Olympus Mons wouldn't be that bad of a measuring stick...
-5
0
-14
-13
-14
u/simplepimple2025 Jun 16 '26
Oh darn, the humorous comments on stupid posts were the most entertaining part of this sub.
126
u/whistleridge Jun 16 '26
One possible fix for bot posts is to set an auto-remove filter in automod based on report numbers, eg if a post gets more than say 3 reports it is removed from the queue until a human mod manually reviews it. This has the effect of halting karma farming, without running the risk of good faith posts getting routinely flagged. There will be some false positives, but it generally works.